Chapter 35
Are you going to snore the whole day away, Vorik? Agrevlari’s telepathic voice floated into his sleep-heavy mind.
Vorik groped for the wherewithal to respond—and to open his eyes. A deep, foggy blanket enshrouded him, and he struggled to wake up.
Are you unaware that the barrier around this island has dropped? Agrevlari added. I assumed you had been responsible until I found you slumbering in this cave.
Mouth and nostrils oddly dry—no, parched—Vorik finally managed to open his eyes.
He patted around, remembering that Syla had been with him.
Yes, with him. In every sense of the word.
The memory made him smile, recalling that they’d had wondrous sex, and then he’d dozed off fantasizing about apple desserts she’d mentioned.
But his smile vanished when he realized she wasn’t there.
He lay naked in the back of the cave. Alone.
You’ve been out for hours, Agrevlari said from somewhere nearby.
Was he perched right on top of the cave?
And unresponsive to my attempts to wake you, though it was only in the last hour that the barrier created by the shielder disappeared and I was able to fly close to you.
I considered going to hunt on the island, as I’ve already seen a couple of my kind arrowing in to take advantage of the now-exposed succulent prey, but there are enemies about, and I figured I should protect you. You are most welcome, by the way.
Thank you. Vorik sat up, trying to figure out what had happened.
His trousers, boots, and sword remained where he’d dropped them, but all trace of Syla was gone. All trace except…
His gaze fell on one of the candles that had been burning when she’d enticed him into the back of the cave. The wicks had been fully consumed, only tiny amounts of wax remaining.
He grabbed a nub and lifted it to his nose.
That scent they’d emitted. He remembered it well, though he’d thought little of it the night before.
Many candles smelled, after all. His own people often put citronella oil in theirs to keep away mosquitoes carrying disease.
But this… Something told him this was different.
He never slept so heavily. Like the rest of his people, he never relaxed fully and was always on the edge of awareness, alert to the many dangers that lurked in the world.
Had his slumber been normal, he would have heard Syla dressing and leaving.
“She drugged me,” Vorik said, his emotions a jumble.
He felt more chagrined that he’d fallen for it than that she’d done it. He didn’t blame her for that. They were enemies, after all, and he’d been lying to her and trying to trick her all along. Because of his orders. His mission.
Reminded of that mission, Vorik lurched to his feet and grabbed his trousers. Only now did the ramifications of Agrevlari’s words sink in.
“The barrier is down?” He sensed the dragon right above him.
It is indeed.
“That means she got the shielder and deactivated it. She must right now be toting it toward the harbor so it can be taken on a ship to their island.” Vorik paused, one foot in a boot. “But do they have a carriage? Or did they walk all the way from the temple on foot?”
When he’d come across Fel and Tibby, he hadn’t seen any signs of horses or a means of transporting a large artifact.
You walked to this locale on foot.
“Yeah, but I didn’t plan to carry a huge artifact back across the island with me.” All he’d meant to do was destroy the thing. “Those things must weigh hundreds of pounds.”
A small load for one of my kind.
“I’m positive Syla doesn’t intend to give it to a dragon.”
No, her plan was to take it back to Castle Island. She needed to find a ship.
After dressing, Vorik jogged for the entrance.
“If they’re trekking all the way to the harbor, we can easily catch them.
” Outside, he turned, looking above the cave toward the green dragon perched on the rocks, using a talon to pick something out of his fangs.
The remains of his breakfast? Maybe Agrevlari hadn’t been as assiduous about standing guard as he’d implied. “Especially if I’m riding you.”
A dragon most certainly makes a journey easier.
“Especially one with clean teeth.”
It’s important to care for your gums, lest you get fang rot.
“I’ve heard that.” Vorik climbed the rocks and onto Agrevlari’s back. He patted the dragon, relieved to be reunited with him. “Did you see if Lesva made it?”
She was grievously injured during your battle, but she managed to swim beyond the barrier, and Verikloth plucked her up.
“I see.” Vorik didn’t want Lesva dead, but he also winced at the thought of having to speak with and work with her after their duel.
They said they were returning to headquarters and would report everything—emphasis on everything—to General Jhiton.
Vorik winced again. Since Lesva had been disobeying orders, he hadn’t been wrong to stop her, but…
if he didn’t find and destroy the shielder before Syla activated it on Castle Island, Jhiton wouldn’t be pleased with him.
Lesva might succeed in casting blame on him for his… soft attitude toward Syla.
And would she be wrong?
“Let’s go, my friend.” Vorik patted Agrevlari again. “We need to find the shielder.”
Agrevlari bunched his muscles, prepared to spring into the air, but he paused, his snout pointing out to sea. Wreylith has returned to the area.
“She may have sensed that the barrier is down and come to hunt here.”
Perhaps she missed my wit and has returned to allow me to court her.
“I doubt it.”
Your skepticism wounds me. Can you not support me in my mating endeavors, as I have supported you?
“I didn’t realize you were supporting me.”
Neither time when you fornicated with the princess did I interfere or comment on the techniques used in the seduction or accomplishment of the mission. I believed you would perform better if I did not intrude upon your concentration.
“Yes, I appreciate the lack of commentary, but we weren’t fornicating. At least not the first time.” Trying to urge the dragon to stay on task, Vorik pointed toward the slope of the volcano, in the direction he’d last seen Fel and Tibby.
Stimulation of a sex orifice was involved.
Vorik rolled his eyes, but Agrevlari was springing into the air, so he didn’t complain, other than to say, “I didn’t know you could see so much from way out on the rock.”
A single dragon eyeball rolled back toward him as Agrevlari flew up the slope. Through my link with you, I see much.
“I’m sure Syla would be flattered to learn she had an audience. Come, my friend. Let us find the shielder and complete our mission. Then I’ll support you in your courting endeavors.”
Excellent.
Agrevlari flew faster.
With Syla and Fel on the deck, the whaling ship sailed out of the cove, three guard vessels gliding beside it, every cannon manned. The fourth guard vessel, with Aunt Tibby and its crew aboard, waited under an overhang in the cliff, the shadows hopefully hiding it from dragon eyes.
While they’d prepared, another of the great creatures had flown over the area, but no rider had sat astride its back.
It, like the first, had headed inland. It hadn’t even glanced down at the cove, which was fortunate, since the orb had been bobbing in the water then, halfway to being loaded onto the guard ship.
They’d been lucky that the dragons with the riders remained a couple of miles out to sea, almost as if the barrier remained in place, keeping them back.
By now, they had to be aware it was down, so Syla didn’t know why they hadn’t approached.
Were they waiting for more allies to arrive?
Or for Vorik to join them and take command?
Had he woken up? By now, the candles must have burned out.
A fake orb, which was nothing more than crates of provisions and cannonballs that the crew had hurried to unload from the cargo hold of one of the guard ships, was tied under a canvas tarp near the harpoon launchers at the back of the deck.
With the help of a few crewmen, Syla and Fel had done their best to pad and shift the crates so that the pile appeared rounded, like the orb.
Of the riders and dragons out there, it was likely that only Vorik had seen the other shielder and knew what one looked like. Syla hoped that even he didn’t realize that the orb could be removed from its mounting and only it would be transported.
Once the whaling ship sailed out of the cove, the dragons were more visible. They flew back and forth, doing the aerial equivalent of pacing. It appeared that they, or perhaps their riders, were discussing something. Or, as she’d been thinking, waiting on someone.
Her hand strayed to a pocket in her robe, to the figurine she’d managed to retain through all the chaos of the last few days.
Unfortunately, she doubted Wreylith was around.
Even if she was, why would the red dragon come to help Syla?
Unless she had endured another run-in with a basilisk, she had no reason to do so.
Still, Syla mulled over ideas in her mind, seeking something she could offer Wreylith to entice her to assist her one more time.
The captain of the whaling vessel, a fit man in his fifties, left the wheelhouse and joined her on deck.
He eyed her, the canvas-covered pile, then her again.
Something that looked like a piece of cane or a thick stalk stuck out of the corner of his mouth, and he chewed on it while he did the eyeing.
“Thank you for taking us onboard, Captain…” Syla realized she didn’t know his name since Aunt Tibby and her engineer friend had arranged all this. Had they warned him that he might die on this voyage? That they all might?
“Radmarik.” He surprised her by bowing to her. From the way he’d been eyeing her—and what he’d caught of her plan—he’d looked like he wanted to punch her. Or maybe strangle her. “My wife promises me I’m honored to serve you.”